They Told Everyone I Was Adopted, I Was Their Real Daughter Chapter 07

They Told Everyone I Was Adopted, I Was Their Real Daughter Chapter 07

Zoe messaged me after I hung up. 

Zoe: [Are you really in the Northwest?] 

Gia: (Yeah. 

Zoe: [Is it one of those classified places–the kind 

where you can never come back?] 

Gia: [No, but I can’t come back much.] 

Zoe: [Good. I hope you end up in one of those 

places. Then no one will fight me for Mom and 

Dad.] 

I stared at my screen for a long moment, then 

typed. 

Gia: [They’re yours. No one’s taking them.] 

The launch prep hit its final sprint. I lived in the lab, checking and rechecking data. I collapsed the night before launch. When I came to, Nathan was sitting beside me, amused. “You’re something 

else. You work yourself into a low–blood–sugar 

coma.” 

I rubbed my nose, embarrassed. “You’re okay now, Let’s get ready. Tomorrow’s the real fight.” I 

nodded. 

Launch day. I was in the control room with the 

team. The countdown started. “Five. Four. Three. 

Two. One.” “Launch!” 

The rocket shot into the desert sky, its tail blazing. 

Cheers erupted. I hugged Nathan in the middle of 

it all. 

The launch was being broadcast live on national 

television. Someone who recognized me sent the 

footage to my parents. “Look at your adopted daughter building rockets!” 

Messages poured in for them–congratulations. 

from friends and acquaintances. They looked complicated. They’d never imagined their 

daughter, the one they’d always dismissed, could do something like this. 

Dad messaged me, forwarding a news article 

about the successful launch. 

Dad: [Gia, you’re building rockets. That must be so 

hard.] 

Dad: [It’s been a few months. Will you get any time 

off?] 

I paused, then replied. 

Gia: [No.] 

He called right away. “Are you still angry at us?” 

“No.” 

“Then why won’t you come back?” 

“I don’t have time.” 

“There’s always time. You must have days off.” 

“No one wants me there.” 

“So you are angry.” 

I interrupted him. “Dad, I’m not coming back. After 

you let Zoe tear my room apart, there was no 

going back. And don’t expect me to forget what happened. I won’t.” 

I hung up. 

Late that night, I couldn’t sleep. My phone buzzed 

relentlessly. 

Zoe: [Dad cried after you hung up.] 

Zoe: [He tore down my pet room.] 

Zoe: [I hate you. You’re gone, and you’re still taking 

him away from me.] 

Zoe: (If you’re so great, why didn’t you say anything before? Were you pretending to be weak just to 

make me look bad? Now everyone knows you’re better than me.] 

I didn’t reply. 

Another week passed. I’d just finished a training session when Mom called. “Gia, how are things over there? Are you eating well? Sleeping okay?” 

For the first time, she wasn’t calling to scold me. This was what I used to dream of in school. 

I felt nothing. “Is something wrong? If not, I need 

to get back to work.” 

“No, nothing. I just missed you.” 

I stared at the phone after she hung up. 

Dad sent a photo. 

Dad: [Gia, I went to so many shops to find this 

out–of–print model. Look–isn’t it just like the one 

you had?] 

It was the rocket model Zoe had destroyed. More 

expensive. More detailed. But it wasn’t mine. 

That night, Zoe sent another message. Strange- 

we’d barely texted in over a decade, even under the 

same roof, but since I left, we’d talked more in a 

few days than in all those years. 

Zoe: [Mom turned my closet into your room. Said 

you’re part of this family too.] 

Zoe: [I didn’t allow it. I ripped it apart.] 

Zoe: [They yelled at me for the first time. Because 

of you. They yelled at me.] 

Zoe: [You said you wouldn’t come back.] 

I replied. 

Gia: [That’s right.] 

Zoe: [Then keep your word.] 

Gia: [I will.]